Utility knives are known to those of ordinary skill in the art to have many forms, everything from the simple box cutter with a fixed, exposed blade, to machete-style implements. Utility knives with slidable blades are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,663,845 to Weimann, U.S. Pat. No. 4,761,882 to Silverstein, U.S. Pat. No. 4,941,260 to Castelluzzo, U.S. Pat. No. 6,161,290 to Takamasa, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,513,246 B2 to Ping. A utility knife having both a folding and slidable blade is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,014 to Shaanan et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,581 B1 to Forte describes a hunting utility knife which has a folding, curved blade wherein blade edges are replaceable/interchangeable. U.S. Pat. No. 6,052,908 to Harman describes a utility knife useful for skinning game, which has a curved edge.
For all of the inventiveness which precedes the instant invention, there has not been described a utility knife which provides variable blade positions and which allows the blade to be folded into a carrying position.